Three children suffocate after getting trapped inside car in Bataan

Three children were found dead after accidentally locking themselves into a car where they suffocated amid sweltering heat.

The cousins have been named as Agatha Morales, aged nine, Shamel Alghela Morales, eight, and Pauline Keziah Morales, six. They were playing together in Orion town in Bataan province on Monday (May 13).

Agatha’s father Jessie Morales, 31, an oil refinery worker, returned home from work at 4pm and parked the green car outside his home.

But after going inside to eat, the youngsters are believed to have opened a door and climbed inside to play. However, the door somehow locked behind them, trapping them inside.

A friend of the young girls noticed them four hours later at about 8pm. They were all lifeless inside the vehicle.

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She ran to tell the two parents who were at home nearby. Jessie ran outside and found the three children dead inside the vehicle.

He said: “They were not able to breath because of the heat inside.”

The families of the victims have accepted that the tragedy was entirely accidental. They have blamed a faulty door lock which allowed the children to enter the car but prevented them from opening the door from the inside.

The local police are now investigating the case to find out if there was negligence on the part of the parents.

Bataan Police chief Dennis Orbista said: “The father opened the door but the kids were not responding. He brought them to the hospital where they were pronounced dead due to suffocation.